ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author looks at violent behaviour from the perspective of its origins in early childhood. He aims to offer an understanding of violence so that it can be managed more effectively in residential or other care settings. In certain circumstances, violence can threaten the very existence of the institutions or family placements created to help young people. In the context of the care of damaged children and young people, violence by this broad definition is a daily occurrence. Violence must also be defined across a wider spectrum of behaviour ranging from compulsive passivity, through to assertiveness, aggression, to violent behaviour at the other extreme. The origins of violence are by no means universally agreed or understood, even amongst psychodynamic theorists. The author presents a more detailed analysis of violence and professional responses to it, through a case study of ‘J.’, a teenage boy who received help in an adolescent treatment centre.
